What's Hatching in Our Hawaiian Nest

E is for…

A Verse Hid in Our Hearts…E is for…
“Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”
Isaiah 40:31

How Our Week Was Spent
We learned about feathers and that on all the little hairs are even more little hairs and some of them have little hooks to zip the feather hairs together (Nate, 6).
Cowbirds don’t take care of their babies. They lay their eggs in someone else’s nest and let other birds, like sparrows, take care of them. But when the cowbirds grow up they know they aren’t sparrows and find other cowbirds to live with (Titus, 9 1/2).
Albatross are bad landers. Sometimes they land on their nose and do 1 or 2 somersaults. They are bad taker-offers too (Joel, 8).Teacher’s Two-Cents
My favorite chapter in the Bible is Genesis 1 but Isaiah 40 has to be a close second. I can’t read it without the words drifting into the haunting melodies of Handel’s “Messiah,” so we wore our all-ready-well-worn CD a little thinner this week. Verse 11 has been especially dear to my heart throughout this season of my life. “He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.” This tender, nurturing picture of our Shepherd is sandwiched between depictions of the Lord as mighty Ruler and all-knowing Creator. Verse 9 cries out, “Behold, your God!” This same God who “has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span,” holds me and my little ones close to His heart showing special care to “those that are with young.” What sleep-deprived mother hasn’t felt in the wee hours alone and forgotten and thought like Israel in verse 27 that their “way is hidden from the Lord…and disregarded by my God?” Oh weary Mother of little ones! “Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord [our Shepherd] is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to [the tired mommy] who has no might he increases strength.” Wait on the Lord, allow yourself to be gently led by our Good Shepherd, and your strength will be renewed. The morning will come and you will soar like an eagle!

Thank you for sharing what your learning. We do know our God as the Shepherd, and He is also the Lamb in the New Testament. I love reading about how you see God’s creation of all things in such marvelous ways . . . from feathers to belly flop landings by albatrosses . . . is that like the belly flops Joel does in the pool? Miss you and sending lots of love!

Just an FYI….your godmadeknown profile still describes you as the mother of FOUR boys. 😉
Love the boys’ descriptions of what they learned, and Titus’ drawing is great! His explanation reminded me of the saying, “Birds of a feather flock together.”

Oh my! Those poor birds! Yes, I would keep flying, too! Thanks once again for this encouragement and beautiful reminder of our tender yet mighty Shepherd, Protector, and Creator. I am praying for you, tired mama! 😉 I love the way you so naturally share beautiful things with your children (Handel’s Messiah, nature, etc) and these are the things I’m striving to plan and one day become natural at doing. Ha ha. (We are planning to “study” Handel beginning at Advent.) As always, you are an inspiration in oh so many ways. Thanks, friend!

Ha Ha! And I was just reading your latest post and wondering how in the world you found the time and energy to plan out all those details and prepare them so meticulously. I guess we’re both like the albatross. In some areas we soar. And in others we have a lot to learn from each other about landing and taking off:)

Poetry is new this year. I actually think hymns and psalms are a great way to introduce children to poetry but there were so many fun little rhymes about birds out there that I just couldn’t resist adding one a week at the end of our devotions. I just read it aloud each morning and by the end of the week they’ve got a pretty good sense of it. I tested the water with a few gems by Gerard Manley Hopkins but he was just too far over their heads. Too bad:( God’s Grandeur, The Windhover, and Spring are just amazing. How are you choosing your artists, composers, poets?

I’m sorry to say that my only criteria for choosing artists and poets has been what I can easily find at the library for free! I saw a lot of Van Gogh books, checked them out, and put them around the house. The kids picked them up and enjoyed them. One of the libraries near us has a “smart about art” series for kids, so I am keeping things easy for myself and choosing those artists for a while. (I am going to have to look for an artist that paints adventure/ battle scenes soon for Lev and Catherine would like the loving mother scenes of Mary Cassatt!) I’m sure it would be nice to let our study of history guide our study of artists, but that would be more than I could handle. I’d end up not studying art at all. For the composers, I decided to start with the most well-known and then move from there. I did glance over the poet study suggestions at SimplyCharlotteMason.com, but we’ve not really followed it.

Do you have Beechick’s “Biblical Home Education”? It is not especially detailed and a short read, but you would enjoy it, though I’m sure you could write it! She talks about studying psalms for poetry.

Do you plan your devos on your own or use some sort of books? Do all of the boys (the oldest 4… he he) understand?

Shannon, about the devos… I don’t even know if what we do should even officially go under that title. We just pray (thanks to you, I’m trying to be much more intentional about that), we also recite a little composed prayer that they memorize, we sing our bird hymn of the week along with whatever hymns we’ll be singing in church the following Sunday (I’m in the choir so I get advanced notice:), then we go over our memory verse and I read aloud from the chapters surrounding it so they get an idea of the context. I don’t use a book or anything. I just read and kind of explain it as I go and say what words mean if they don’t know and try to make applications where I can. It’s really nothing special,(except for to us, I mean). I know there are so many great resources out there that would probably be a lot more fun for them, especially for the little ones. Oh, and thanks for the Beechick suggestion. I’ve read a couple of her books and liked them a lot but hadn’t heard of that one.